Bio-inspired Advanced Sensors (BIAS) Laboratory dreams of innovative microsystems for implementing future perception beyond five senses of human. We aim to realize them by using modern analog-mixed circuit design techniques, so that people can interface with nature, machine and even their own bodies with many electronic devices seamlessly.

We develop a flash LiDAR sensor featuring an in-pixel hTDC based on a delta-intensity quaternary search (DIQS) technique. The proposed hTDC needs a minimum size of memory, two 9-b counters, realizing an 80×60 LiDAR without using a 3-D stacked process. It also attenuates common-mode noise, accomplishing real-time acquisition of depth images with 30 fps in a 9-m range at 30-klux background light.

The spike signal in neural activities is an essential event but is fired rarely so that the spike detection can compress large amount of data efficiently. The proposed delta-modulation doesn’t only compress the signal dynamic range, but also enable to extract the amplitude and frequency component of the neural signal, recognizing the spike in the analog domain.

We develop various analog ICs including a ΔΣ-modulator, a temperature sensor, and an oscillator. The proposed Δ2-modulation realized by the 2nd-order IIR filter on the feedback significantly attenuates the magnitude of input signals, enhancing the DR and linearity. It also implemented with an amplifier-less structure and the PWM current DAC, achieving the smallest active area of 0.0308 mm2 with a high energy efficiency of 4.15-pJ/conv FoMw.